A Lone White Wolf
by Der Traumer
Summary: A retelling of the originol plot with a twist. There is a sixth member of the wolf's party, a half wolf with a peculiar past named Anali. rating may change.


A/N: this was just a random piece I wanted to write... and now I'm posting it :grin:

Disclaimer: Wolf's Rain, its characters, and its plot belong to BONES and sadly, not me

Claimer: However, Anali and all events centered around her are mine!

Warnings: waff, angst, and an OOC Kiba

ENJOY!

**

* * *

A Lone White Wolf**

Anali tugged her hat further over her ears with one hand and fisted her hand in Hige's sweatshirt with the other. Her head was ducked down and she was almost completely hidden behind him. "Where are we going?" she whimpered at her guardian.

"I smell something," Hige whispered, tilting his head and wrinkling his nose as he rechecked for the scent. He heard Anali sniff next to him, and her following sigh informed him that she could not deny the scent either.

"It smells like you," she buried her nose in his sweatshirt for a moment, "Except different," she concluded.

"It's another wolf," he confirmed her unvoiced question.

Anali was leaning her head against his shoulder and grasping his arm in both her hands now that they had entered the large crowds of people. He felt her ears twitch against his arm as she pondered the idea of another wolf.

"It'll be okay," he reassured.

He heard an unsure affirmative noise in response before they were swallowed into the main crowds of the sidewalks. Anali pressed ever closer to him, only relinquishing her clutch on his arm to tug the hat even tighter over her ears. He looked down at her.

"How can you see with your hat like that?" he asked with a grin and shifted the hat some so he could see her eyes.

His attempt at lightening the mood was worthless; Anali smacked his hand away and readjusted the hat, hiding her eyes again.

Hige sighed and freed his arm from her grasp and tossed it over her shoulders, holding her close to him. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he promised. A promise he'd made one hundred times over to the timid teen clinging to him.

They stood at the base of a building.

"It's in there?" Anali's voice trembled at the mere idea of entering the cast iron fortress. The place was considerably more empty here and she had unattached herself from him.

"You bet," he answered, looking at the building with equal, but unshown trepidation.

"I don't want to go in there, Hige," Anali stated quietly, "I can smell the guards."

Hige could smell the guards to, but his sense of smell was more acute than Anali's. The scent of guards was concentrated around the core of the building. "They're not near the wolf," Hige informed her.

"I still don't want to go in there," she restated, stepping closer to Hige. Angry looking homeless were glaring at them from the alleyways to the left and right of the building.

Hige noted their presence. It wouldn't be any safer leaving Anali out her than bringing her in with him. "We'll be fine. Just stay close."

He heard Anali's low keen of disapproval, but she fisted her hands in his sweatshirt again and stepped close to him, resigned to follow.

Hige was right, the guards didn't really care at all about the outer wings of the building. They made their way through numerous office filled hallways without suspicion or trouble. Hige stopped at a steal door. He heard Anali inhale beside him. "It's in there," she whispered, despite their being alone in the hall.

Hige grunted in agreement and prepared to knock down the door, however the knob turned easily in his hand.

As the door opened the stench of blood assailed their noses. Hige had noted the scent when they had first started tracking the wolf scent, but it came as a shock to Anali, who gagged, then pressed her face against Hige's shoulder, muffling the scent with his.

"He's not dead, is he?" she asked, not removing her face from his arm.

"Nah," Hige answered. "Death smells different." He made his way into the dark room, Anali clutching at him tightly. The teen was pressed against his back, peering timidly around him. They were approaching a large barred cage.

"Why are you in there?" Hige casually asked the large white wolf within.

"I could get out if I wanted to," the creature snarled in answer.

"Then why don't you?" Hige questioned curiously, cocking his head to one side.

"I needed a place to rest," it answered.

Hige tugged his arm free of Anali and placed his hands behind his head. "There are lots better places to rest than here." He absently gestured the warehouse around them.

The other wolf snorted in response. "Like where?"

"Well there's our place for one," he offered.

"Our?" it questioned, then sniffed the air, searching for the second scent. Golden eyes widened. "_What_ is standing behind you?"

Hige felt Anali physically start at the venom in the white wolf's voice, but he didn't have time to answer.

"Someone's coming," Anali hissed, then darted into the shadows, hiding herself among the piles of crates.

Hige spun around.

"What are you doing here?" a woman wearing a long white lab coat demanded.

Hige scratched the back of his head. "Well… I was looking for cleaning supplies, and I think I must have made a wrong turn."

The woman sighed and directed him out and to the right for his cleaning supplies. Hige thanked her and shot a worried glance in the direction of where Anali was hidden.

Anali held her breath as the woman stepped further into the room.

She studied the great white wolf. It remained motionless, not moving away from or toward her. The woman shook her head. "It won't live," she said aloud and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Anali was confused. Didn't this woman realize this was a wolf? A creature that had supposedly been extinct for two hundred years? Why was she so calm as she stared at it, dying in that cage?

She didn't realize he was a wolf! Anali realized as the woman left the room.

Hige burst back in as soon as he could. "Anali?" he called into the room.

The small figure emerged from behind the boxes. Hige gave a sigh of relief before looking back toward the caged wolf, which was now sitting up on its haunches. "You still think this cage is such a great place to rest?" Hige inquired.

The wolf shook his head, then viciously broke his way out between the bars.

Hige heard Anali gasp and felt her hands ball into fists against his back. Her face pressed into the back of his shoulder.

The wolf looked like it was about to collapse. Its tongue lolled out and it panted heavily.

"It's going to be awful hard sneaking you out of here looking like that," Hige stated nonchalantly and gestured his wolfish form.

There was a noise that could be described as a wolfish sigh and suddenly in place of the white wolf was a young man with a mane of black hair and bright blue eyes. He walked toward them, favoring his right leg just a little. "Where to?"

It wasn't any harder getting out then it had been getting in. Nobody spared them a second glance, assuming them to be cleaning crew, and the guards had not moved from the innermost of the building.

"Our place" consisted of an abandoned staircase that was partially sheltered by the torn vinyl overhang of an abandoned restaurant. Hige sat down on the top step, and lay back, resting his head on his hands. Anali sat on his right side and glanced cautiously at the newcomer. Said newcomer sat down several feet away on Hige's left.

Awkward silence was broken by the growl of Anali's stomach.

Hige cracked an eye open at her. "I'll go get something to eat. You stay here with the new guy."

Anali's eyes widened in horror. "No!" She realized her blunder and restarted. "I mean, no, that's okay, Hige. I'll go get it." With that, Anali retugged her hat tight over her ears and darted into the crowds.

As soon as she was gone, the white wolf turned to Hige. "She smells odd. Why?"

"She's half human and half wolf. You know that hat? It covers up her ears. Her tail fits inside her cargo pants." He shuddered. "I'd hate to keep my tail pinned up like that."

"She hates the crowds. I could smell her fear on our way here. Why, then, did she offer to get food?"

Hige sat up. "That's easy. She's more scared of you than she is the crowds."

"Why?" Blue eyes widened in true confusion at the explanation.

"Because you're a wolf."

"So are you."

Hige shrugged. "I proved myself to her. Proved to her that I wouldn't hurt her."

"Why would she think her own kind would harm her?" Again the confusion in his bright eyes was clearly visible.

"Because she's not really our own kind. She's only half. When I found her, she was dying. Another wolf tried to kill her because she was half human. She said he told her that her presence threatened all other wolves."

"Because it would be too easy for humans to notice her ears and tail?"

Hige shrugged. "I guess so."

"And of course the humans would never accept her."

This time Hige sighed deeply. "Yeah…"

Anali's entrance was so quiet neither wolf heard her until she spoke, jarring them both from their conversation.

"I'm not very good at stealing them, Hige," she said as she handed him the two hotdogs. "So I had to use some of the money."

"'S okay, kid," he reassured. "Hey! Why are there only two?"

"Oh, uh… I ate mine on the way here," Anali lied.

Hige looked at her skeptically, but let it drop.

"These are horrible," the newcomer stated bluntly

"Yeah, but they're edible _and_ they're clean. Sure as hell beats dumpster diving," Hige retorted, shoving the rest of his own hotdog in his mouth. He pulled a blanket from the pile in the corner toward him, wrapped up in it, and lay down. "And now, I'm going to sleep." His snores were heard moments later.

Anali had moved from her seemingly permanent place at Hige's side to further back under the overhang and wrapped herself in another blanket.

"Why didn't you eat?" the young man turned to her.

"I did!" Anali protested.

"You lied. Why didn't you eat?"

Anali wrapped her arms around her knees and looked away from him, staring at the ground beside her. "I…" she squinted her eyes shut. "I…I didn't deserve to eat." Tears leaked from her tightly closed eyes and dripped down her cheeks. She looked up hearing movement to see the newcomer sitting barely two feet from her, staring at her.

"Why?" he asked, cocking his head to one side in a very wolfish expression.

Anali scowled at him. "Why do you care?"

"Because you're a wolf. Like me."

Anali snorted. "What makes you think that?"

He scooted even closer. "You smell like a wolf." He tugged off her hat.

Anali's hands flew to her head, and she covered her ears with them. He pried them off. "You have ears like a wolf."

Embarrassed, she pushed his hands away and buried her face in her knees. "Who the hell do you think you are? You don't know me."

"I'm Kiba, and I _want_ to know who _you_ are."

She looked up at him, than put her face back in her knees. "I'm just a pathetic excuse for a…a something."

"That's not much of a name."

She peered over her knees and glared at him. "Anali. And that's Hige." She pointed at the sleeping red head.

Kiba ignored her attempt to turn the conversation to Hige. "Anali. Why aren't you a wolf?"

She shrugged. "I'm just not."

"Wh…" he started to ask again.

"I'm just not!" she snarled at him, then immediately buried her face in her knees. Kiba could smell the silent tears falling from her eyes. "I mean… I… I just don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry for lashing out. Not a very good way to make friends I guess." She shrugged bitterly.

"You're a very pretty wolf."

"I'm not a wolf," she growled at him without looking up.

"A very pretty half-wolf then."

She snorted. "I know I'm never going to be like you and Hige. You can stop trying to make me feel better. You're not helping."

If Anali had looked up from her knees, she would have seen him frown. "You have nice ears."

Anali's head snapped up. "What the hell is your problem? I told you that you weren't…" her words trailed into a helpless whimper as he stroked the base of her left ear. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch. "Why are you doing this? Why do you care?"

Kiba used the hand on her ear to ease her toward him and hold her head against his chest. "You're my own blood. You're a wolf." He waited for her outburst of denial, but it never came. "And it bothers me that one of our own kind would try to hurt you." At this, she did fling herself upright.

"How the hell do you know about that?" She lashed out, then calmed and without waiting for him to answer, murmured, "Hige told you, right?"

Kiba nodded. "What happened?"

Anali curled back around her knees and looked away from him. A tear slid down her cheek. "I don't want to talk about it." No viciousness accompanied this statement, only firm refusal.

Kiba made a noise of assent and scooted toward her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders from behind and resting his chin on the top of her head. Her ears tickled his face. "I would never hurt you," he promised.

"That's a very odd thing to say to someone you've barely known a day," Anali stated. She was enjoying his proximity and the warmth of his arms around her shoulders and his chest pressed against her back. She felt Kiba shrug in response. "So what are you doing here anyway?"

"Looking for paradise," he answered.

Anali shifted in his arms to try and look at his face. "What?" she conceded in asking when she couldn't get a good enough look to tell if he was serious.

"The flower maiden is in this city."

He felt Anali trying to shift to see his face again. "You've never heard the story about the flower maiden leading the wolves into paradise?"

Her ears twitched and perked up. "Yeah, Hige told me about it. He says that the reason that building we found you in smells so good is because there's a girl in there made out of lunar flowers. Hige knows more about it than I do." She shrugged, then immediately tried to face him again. This time Kiba relented and let her turn and face him. She cocked her head to one side and studied him closely. "You think that girl is the flower maiden, don't you? And you're going to try and steal her!"

Kiba shrugged. "It's not a bad plan."

Anali eyed him skeptically then yawned. "Hige's going to tell you its dumb. That place reeks of guards."

"I'll just talk to Hige about it in the morning."

Anali sighed, yawned, then nodded agreement. "Good night, then, Kiba," she murmured and curled up around herself on her side, resting her head on a pile of cloth scraps and tugging the blanket over her shoulders again.

Kiba look at the small shivering figure a moment longer before lying himself down in front of her and wrapping his arms around her curled figure as best he could. Anali shifted against him and looked up at him, confused.

Kiba answered her unvoiced question before it passed her lips. "Because it's what wolves do when they're cold."

Anali was too tired to protest and rested her head on his arm.

* * *

please review!  
another A/N: I might be willing to write out the entire series with Anali and all her drama in it as I had originally intended if I get enough support for her and this story. 

muahz  
Der Traumer


End file.
